We can all marvel at Lewis Hamilton's win on Sunday. He drove brilliantly well in the opening laps to quickly dispatch those around him and set after Nico Rosberg. By the time of the German's eventual retirement, he was reeling him in.

But, as he admitted on Sunday night, he should never have been there in the first place. We can all laud him for his speed, and his genius, and in many ways we should. However, he is not going to beat a highly intelligent, highly motivated Rosberg this year if he continues to make decisions like the one to abandon his lap in qualifying on Saturday.

To be fair to Hamilton, he knew it. "I really was almost speechless, and it was no-one else's fault but mine," he said. It seems needless in a way to bring this up given his victory, but that is three qualifying sessions in a row where mistakes have cost him a pole position that really should have been his.

My main observation from this season so far is that when Rosberg and Hamilton both finish a race, it's just a few points gained or lost here or there. In fact, in all six races they have both finished, it has been one in first and one in second, no further back. That is the speed Mercedes have in this car.

What this shows is that finishing races - when you are effectively guaranteed a position no worse than second - is far more important than winning them. Hamilton went into this weekend 29 points behind, with things seemingly getting a bit desperate. One retirement for Rosberg, and he is right back in it.

With both finishing it takes such a long time to eradicate that kind of deficit (just look at what Hamilton had to do to cancel out a 25 point lead after Australia). Therefore, keeping your car in good condition, and reliable, will be crucial. If Hamilton's gearbox gives up at the next race after doing doughnuts here, expect a fair bit of criticism slung in his direction.

Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel have six championships between them, but no awards for relentless whinging. This seems to be something of an anomaly.

It many ways it was a shame because it slightly obscured the brilliance and bravery of their battle, which went on for 10 laps or so. One complained the other didn't leave enough space, the other moaned that the other had gone off the track: it all got a bit petty. I am all for hearing team radio but in this case it was a tad overwhelming.

With regard the dicing itself, it was nothing short of stunning. To pull that off, lap after lap, at nearly 200mph is remarkable. Vettel's final move to take fifth (it's a pity these two champions were left squabbling over a comparatively minor position) up the inside at Copse, was breath-taking. All the way along the straight they were inches apart.

These kind of battles show who the best and most professional drivers on the grid are. It is not hard to imagine similar jostling position between two drivers towards the back of the grid ending in tears.

In conclusion then, great racing, but less of the whining please chaps.

Repairs at Silverstone were more F1 than M1, but it was still too long

Many people watching on Sunday afternoon were left wondering how marshals at a Formula One circuit are able to repair barriers in one hour, when a similar incident would have left the nearby M1 shut for days.

However, it was still not quick enough for Niki Lauda. "F1 is over-regulated," Lauda said during the pause in proceedings. "Stopping the race for an hour is wrong and is bad for the sport. It's all crazy. To stop the race for one hour because one of the barriers is damaged is ridiculous.

"Kimi [Raikkonen] made a mistake and hit the guard rail low. I guarantee no-one will hit that spot again. There are too many rules. A lot of people will go home or switch off the TV. It is not good for F1."

The man has a point. No-one is in favour of drivers being put in unnecessary danger, but this seemed a bit too much like mollycoddling. Having to wait a whole hour is not just bad for the people sitting in the grandstands - thankfully the weather was quite pleasant - it is absolutely disastrous for television.

In that time thousands will have switched over to something else (probably the gripping Wimbledon final), and will not have come back. Who wants to check every five minutes to see if the race has resumed?

Young people have notoriously short attention spans, so this did not exactly help F1's cause.

N.B. The fact Kimi Raikkonen emerged from the crash with just some bruising to his knee and ankle is something of a miracle. The impact was 47G, after all. The Finn has taken a lot of stick this year, but he should be lauded for asking about Felipe Massa's wellbeing on team radio before anything else.

Ron Dennis, the McLaren boss, has a unique kind of motivational speech. I bumped into Martin Brundle on Friday and asked him what he made of Dennis's "try harder" comments. He could only wryly remind me of when he finished second in Monaco while a McLaren driver, at which point Dennis said it was a victory lost.

Jenson Button was on the receiving end of these particular comments in the press. Both seem to have cleared the air (if they needed to), but from a PR point of view it was not an ideal way to begin British Grand Prix week. And after all the talk, Jenson drove superbly to finish a fine fourth.

As he said on Sunday night, his late father, John, would have been immensely proud.